As they say “A good receptionist always makes a memorable entrance”. Receptionists are the first face of every business for callers and visitors. A receptionist can be a virtual receptionist as well as an actual receptionist. Let’s see how they differ from each other.
An actual receptionist is an employee responsible for taking care of the office’s administrative support. They are directly hired by the organization, trained, and counted as an employee. Whereas a virtual receptionist is not an employee and is not physically present there but is always there to attend calls. The virtual receptionist provides a range of services such as answering calls, taking messages, legal intake, mail forwarding, and appointment scheduling.
But which one is ideal for your business? Read on to know some characteristics of virtual and in-house receptionists.
Cost
Virtual receptionist
The only amount that you have to pay for a virtual receptionist is the service fee, which you have to pay directly to the service provider or the agency. A virtual receptionist provides you with high-quality services like the best cloud call center, there is no overtime, no overhead and the best part is that you don’t have to pay extra for after-hours or holiday calls.
In-house receptionist or Actual receptionist
The average salary of a full-time receptionist is somewhere around lacs including benefits like bonuses, insurance and miscellaneous costs and that figure skyrockets. Also, getting an actual receptionist means you’ll have to pay for training, office space and materials for the job which is not the case with a virtual receptionist.
Not-attending the calls
Virtual receptionist
Day or night, during work hours or after work hours, holiday or not, and during peak time, your virtual receptionist is always available for you so that you don’t miss any potential leads. Having a virtual receptionist for your business, you can be prepared for uncertainties caused by climate change, and you can pick up the slack when mother nature becomes furious.
In-house receptionist
An in-house receptionist can’t be available 24*7 to take the call. Many things can keep the receptionist from answering the call like a lunch break or a meeting which ranges from 20 minutes to one hour. You will also have to provide vacation, sick leaves, and personal time to the receptionist which may lead to less productivity in work and you might miss some potential lead during this time.
Productivity
Virtual receptionist
Imagine you are calling a toll free customer care number and it is continuously busy, even after calling them again and again for one hour, the line is still busy. Sounds exasperating right? But don’t let your customers wait for long hours. an IVR system as your virtual receptionist for your business means the line is never busy and not even a single phone call goes unanswered. Customers no longer have to wait for their queries to be answered and they can reach you anytime.
In-house receptionist
A receptionist is the first face with whom your clients have contact in the first place. Customers need 100% attention and assistance when they are using your products and services. A single employee may not be able to offer all the attention customers need. They can’t handle large volumes of calls at the same time. Thus, it can piss off customers and can do more damage than good.
After hours follow-up
Virtual receptionist
Having a virtual receptionist is the best way to ensure after-hours coverage and follow-up with clients. A virtual receptionist is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and is always ready to take up the call when it comes in.
In-house receptionist
You can have the best receptionist for your business but they can only be available only for specific hours a day then what about the remaining hours? Unlike a virtual receptionist, a traditional one cannot be there all the time when the phone rings.
Considering the above points, you can decide which one is best for your business i.e. an actual receptionist or virtual receptionist. The fact that you have to hire an actual receptionist shouldn’t keep you from hiring a virtual receptionist because a virtual receptionist takes over after hours and steps in when your in-house receptionist is not working. After all, work must go on!
